1. Field
The present invention relates to a hydrogen reactor, and, more particularly to a multifactorial hydrogen reactor for use in the internal combustion engines for improving the fuel efficiency and performance thereof and production of the electricity.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hydrogen is the most promising energy source first of all, because it is the most abundant element in the universe. Furthermore, as is known, the combustion of hydrogen produces water again.
The problem of decomposition of water molecules to produce hydrogen for use as a substitute for fossil fuels and for the following transformation to all existing forms of energy: mechanical, electrical, light, electromagnetic, which is the main source of existence of our civilization for more than a few decades, is a focus of the world of science.
In order to break the hydrogen bonds in water and aqueous solutions, researchers are using all kinds of physical and chemical processes. In our opinion, the most accessible and popular ways to produce hydrogen are electrolysis and oxidation of reactive metals.
For all its merits electrolysis has one major drawback—it is a relatively high energy-consuming process. As is known, the mass of one gram equivalent of hydrogen—1 g (½ mole) corresponds to the volume of 11.2 liters (STP). The weight of one gram equivalent of oxygen—8 grams (¼ mole) corresponds to the volume of 5.6 liters (STP). Consequently, the passage of 96485 C charge is allocated 11.2 liters+5.6 L=16.8 liters of Brown's gas, and thus to obtain it, the unit cost of electricity (charge) will be 96485 C: 16.8 liters=5743 C/l.
Many researchers have tried to solve the task of reducing energy costs:                EP0103656A3, Resonant Cavity for Hydrogen Generator, Inventors: Stenley Meyer; Publication date: Aug. 22, 1984.        U.S. Pat. No. 5,089,107 Bi-polar autoelectric hydrogen generator; Inventors: Francisco Pacheco; Publication date: Feb. 18, 1992.        WO2012054842 A2, Enhanced water electrolysis apparatus and methods for hydrogen generation and other applications; Inventors: Michael Lockhart; Publication date: Apr. 26, 2012.        
In an effort to increase efficiency in the production of hydrogen, electrolysis cells have been used a variety of approaches, where the relative success was achieved either through design changes, or due to a combination of electrolysis with other methods of exposure to hydrogen bonds.
However, until now, results obtained in the aforementioned patents are not widespread, because they are energy-intensive and failed to become a model for the industrial mass production of hydrogen:                U.S. Pat. No. 8,075,748 B2, Electrolytic cell and method of use thereof; Inventors: Roy E. McAlister; Publication date: Dec. 13, 2011, proposed an electrolytic cell, comprising a tight vessel, electrodes, electric current source in electrical contact with the electrodes, electrolyte, and gas. Wherein this gas is formed during the electrolysis at or near the first electrode, the cell is provided with a separator, which has an inclined surface, and includes an electrode to be able to direct the flow of the electrolyte and the gas by the difference between the density of the electrolyte and the total density of the electrolyte and the gas, so that the gas is moved toward the second electrode.        U.S. Pat. No. 7,922,878 B2, Electrohydrogenic reactor for hydrogen gas production; Inventors: Bruce Logan; Publication date: Apr. 12, 2011.        US 2006/0011491 A1, Bio-electrochemically assisted microbial reactor that generates hydrogen gas and methods of generating hydrogen gas. Inventors: Stephen Grot, Bruce Logan; Publication date: Jan. 19, 2006.        
The process of oxidation of reactive metals, particularly relatively cheap aluminum devoted subject of hundreds of studies. Among them, the most interesting patents and scientific papers:                EP 1301433 A1, Hydrogen production from aluminum water and sodium hydroxide. Inventor: Andersen Erling Reidar; Apr. 16, 2003;        Hydrogen Generation by Accelerating Aluminum Corrosion in Water with Alumina, World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology 55, 2011, Inventors: J. Skrovan, A. Alfantazi, and T. Troczynski.        Activation of aluminum metal to evolve hydrogen from water, Int. J. Hydrogen Energy, 33 (2008) 3073-3076, Inventors: A. V. Parmuzina and O. V. Kravchenko.        
None of the methods proposed in the aforementioned patents and scientific papers, including all known chemical dissolution reaction of the oxide film, make a continuous oxidation reaction of hydrogen. Production of hydrogen by aluminum would help revolutionize the energy sector, if the oxidation process was not so brief and not stopped at the appearance of the oxide film on the surface of reagent. For the oxide film to be removed continuously, until the total oxidation of aluminum participating in the reaction, in practice, the oxide film is removed by amalgamation or hot solutions of alkali. However, the chemical process can be interrupted or can use other reagents in the oxidation of aluminum, which are often highly toxic such as mercury chloride.
We conducted a patent search to a depth of 50 years and unfortunately found no methods or devices that would make the process of hydrogen production cost and scale that can be the foundation of future hydrogen energy. However, this search has allowed us to define the priorities in choosing the physical and chemical processes that, while the impact on the water molecules will be able to break the hydrogen bonds splitting “H2O” on the “H2” and “O”, necessary to humanity.
Here is a list of physical processes that we are interested in, and links to scientific papers and patents that study these processes:
Electrolysis
Electrolysis of water is the most well-known and well-researched method of hydrogen production. It provides the pure product (99.6-99.9% H2) in one process step. However, the cost of electricity for production of hydrogen is approximately 85.5%; thus making existing methods for producing hydrogen via electrolysis uneconomical.                U.S. Pat. No. 8,308,918 B2, Hydrogen generator; Inventors: Jae Hyoung Gil Jae Hyuk Jang Chang Ryul JUNG.        US 20080245673 A1; Hydrogen generation system; Inventors: Asoke Chandra Das Chaklader, Debabrata Ghosh, Zhaolin Tang, Zhong Xia.        U.S. Pat. No. 8,282,812 B2; Apparatus for producing hydrogen from salt water by electrolysis; Inventor: John Christopher Burtch.        U.S. Pat. No. 7,922,781 B2, Hydrogen generation apparatus and method for using same; Inventors: Anand S. Chellappa, Michael Roy Powell, Charles J. Call.        U.S. Pat. No. 8,075,958 B2; Methods for providing thin hydrogen separation membranes and associated uses; Inventors: Anand Chellappa, Thomas R. Vencill, W. Doyle Miller.        US 20130105307 A1; Hydrogen and oxygen generator; Inventors: Dejan Pavlovic and Nenad Pavlovic, Oct. 31, 2012.        
None of the above works were able to make production of hydrogen be cost-effective i.e. recommended for industrial production.
Production of Hydrogen with Aluminum
Production of hydrogen from water can be considered a method of “crowding out” of hydrogen from water by active metals and alloys. Among the most promising of these metals is aluminum which is capable of radically solving this problem.                U.S. Pat. No. 6,440,385; Hydrogen generation from water split reaction; Aug. 27, 2002; Inventors: Asok C. D. Chaklader; Assignee: The University of British Columbia, discloses an attempt to generate hydrogen from water on demand by water decomposition reaction which has been partly successful in some newer developments. Aluminum was used to generate hydrogen from water, but is not very efficient, as this method requires large concentration of other materials in the aluminum to accomplish the water split reaction.        U.S. Pat. No. 4,308,248; Material and method to dissociate water; Dec. 29, 1981; Inventor: Eugene R. Anderson; Assignee: Horizon Manufacturing Corporation.        U.S. Pat. No. 7,144,567; Renewable energy carrier system and method; Dec. 5, 2006; Inventor: Erling Jim Andersen.        
Aluminum is a very promising raw material for the production of hydrogen: it is cheap, very common on the planet and is very active oxidized in water. However, as discussed above, the oxidation process is stopped once the appearance of the oxide film on the aluminum surface, which makes it possible to use aluminum for food dishes but makes aluminum unsuitable for continuous hydrogen production. None of the foregoing patents disclose that anyone in the world succeeded with minimal cost (less than 1 kW/h) in making the oxidation of aluminum continuous.
Cavitation
Cavitation is the formation of cavities in the liquid (cavitation bubbles) filled with gas, vapor or a mixture thereof. Cavitation is the result of local reduction of pressure in the fluid, which can occur either by increasing its velocity (hydrodynamic cavitation), or in the passage of acoustic waves of high intensity during the half-life (acoustic cavitation).                U.S. Pat. No. 6,719,817 B1; Cavitation hydrogen generator; Apr. 13, 2004, Inventor: Daniel J Marin.        US 20120058405 A1; Cavitation assisted sonochemical hydrogen production system; Mar. 8, 2012, Inventors: Jenifer Jeong, et al.        Laborde J L (1998), Acoustic cavitation field prediction at low and high frequency ultrasounds.        
The patents cited above strongly support effectiveness of the impact of acoustic cavitation process for hydrogen production. However, it requires energy to power the generator producing electrical impulses applied to the acoustic transducers (piezoelectric or magnetostrictive).
Sound Vibrations: Sound, Infrasound, Ultrasound, Hypersound
A person's hearing can perceive frequencies 16-18,000 Hz, which are called sound. But the world around us is filled with the sounds that lie above and below this range—infrastructure and ultrasounds. The lower boundary of the ultrasonic range is called the elastic vibrations of a frequency of 18 kHz. The upper limit is determined by the nature of elastic ultrasonic waves which can propagate only on the condition that the wavelength is much greater than the mean free path of the molecules (in gases) and interatomic distances (in liquids and gases). In gases, the upper limit is 106 kHz, and in liquids and solids, the upper limit is 1010 kHz. Typically, ultrasound is at a frequency of 106 kHz and higher frequencies are called hypersound. In many universities in the world, sound, in all its ranges of frequency, is a main tool in the study of liquid systems, including the process of rupture of hydrogen bonds.                U.S. Pat. No. 5,404,754: An ultrasonic detection of high temperature hydrogen attack; Inventor: Weicheng D. Wang.        
Ionization
The ionization of water located in the cells that produce hydrogen is due to the pulsed discharge of electric current, supplied to the electrodes.                U.S. Pat. No. 5,149,407A; Process and apparatus for the production of fuel gas and the enhanced release of thermal energy from such gas; Inventor: Stanley A. Meyer; Publication date Sep. 22, 1992.        U.S. Pat. No. 5,616,221A; Electrolytic ionized water producing apparatus: Inventors: Hidemitsu Aoki, et al.        
The Thermal Energy
The decomposition of water molecules in the hydrogen generator is most often due to an increase in rotational kinetic energy of the molecules and the energy of their oscillations. Thermal energy is just the kinetic energy of a molecular scale. Charging energy to increase the kinetic energy of the molecules is a micro hydraulic shocks sent into the liquid medium of the hydrogen reactor.                EP 2433902 A1; Method and device for producing combustible gas, heat energy, hydrogen and oxygen; Inventors: Partnou Yauheni Viktorovich; Publication date Mar. 28, 2012.        
Plasma
The concept has emerged in the process of our research involves extensive ionization of hydrogen gas in the reactor, and in combination with high pressure and temperature identification with the plasma. Therefore, the works associated with the use of plasma for the decomposition of water molecules were at the center of our attention.                US 20090035619 A1; Methods and systems of producing molecular hydrogen using a plasma system in combination with an electrical swing adsorption separation system; Inventors: Charles Terrel Adams; Publication date Feb. 5, 2009, which is certainly of scientific interest, though created in the “low-temperature plasma” raises questions. Furthermore, unlike the hydrogen reactor, great advantage of which is the fact that its production is a completely environmentally friendly product, in this patent, the plasma system produces molecular hydrogen in the gas stream along with hydrogen and carbon monoxide.        U.S. Pat. No. 6,806,651 B1; High-density plasma source; Inventor: Roman Chistyakov; Pub: Oct. 19, 2004.        
Membrane Technology
Assuming though that the gas mixture obtained at the decomposition of water may have a different purpose, we have provided methods for advanced separation and purification of gases, including gas mixture separation technology based on the action of a special kind of barriers (membranes) with selective permeability of the gas mixture components. In the broadest sense, the membrane should be understood as a non-equilibrium system open at the boundaries of different compositions which are supported shared mixtures under the influence of various factors (temperature, pressure, gravity or the magnetic field, centrifugal force). Separating capacity of the system depends on the properties of the membrane and separated mixture component properties as well as their interaction.                US 20060147763A1; Upflow microbial fuel cell (UMFC); Inventors: Largus Angenent, Zhen He; Publication date is Jul. 6, 2006.        U.S. Pat. No. 7,922,781 B2; Hydrogen generation apparatus and method for using same; Inventors: Anand S. Chellappa, Michael Roy Powell, Charles J. Call; Publication date: Apr. 12, 2011.        
Catalyst
Most processes in the chemical industry today run using heterogeneous catalysts. Catalyst is a substance that accelerates the rate of a chemical reaction without entering it. In fact, among these substances may occur many chemical reactions. As a rule, a catalyst system “tuned” only for one of them. That is, each particular catalyst can accelerate only a single process.                EP 2571805 A1; A process for the production of hydrogen, the sequestration of carbon dioxide and the production of building materials starting from slags and/or industrial ashes; Inventors: Paolo Plescia, Enrico Barbarese, Maurizio Pinna; Publication date: Mar. 27, 2013.        
Turbulence
Cause of turbulence in a hydrogen generator may be virtually any external influence directed to the liquid in the cell box.
Each of the frontal water waves propagating inside the hydrogen reactor during the motion loses energy, including passing through holes in electrodes turning in a relatively slow flow of water with a twist, which can be considered the turbulence, which helps to remove the gas bubbles from the surface of the electrodes.                RU2357109C1; Apparatus and method for influencing the vortex structures in turbulent air stream; Inventor: Ostrikov Nicholas; 07.11.2007.        